The Pew report states that a majority of Millennials “say that the older generation is superior to the younger generation when it comes to moral values and work ethic.” The phone survey conducted for the report found that Millennials are the only generation to not list work ethic as a Top 5 claim to generational distinctiveness in an open-ended question.

Believing that work ethic isn’t amongst the Top 5 unique characteristics for one’s generation is very different from actually admitting to having poor work ethic, a point lost on many commentators. This and the Millennials’ response that other generations have a greater work ethic are in fact self-assessments rather than a qualitative behavioral analysis using some objective tool or metric.

The Millennials’ educational accomplishments alone, as noted in the same report, would belie any assumption that we don’t work hard or value the process and outcome of said work.

So why do these misperceptions persist? I see four possible causes.

1. What is work ethic anyway? The definition of work ethic ( which isn’t provided in an open-ended question like the ones asked by Pew) is arguably different from generation to generation as the definition of work itself changes. Several of the traits that the Millennial respondents did list as the most generationally distinctive, such as “technology use” and “smarter,” are inextricably tied to how we work. Perhaps there’s an existential “It’s all work/none of it’s work” filter at play here. Perhaps Millennials, many of whom are constantly producing content and who remain connected to work, colleagues and information sources 24/7, simply don’t view how they spend their time and passions as actual work.

2. It’s a recession. Many Millennials couldn’t work right now if they wanted to. According to the report, 37% of 18-29-year-olds are unemployed or out of the workforce, the highest share among this age group in more than three decades. Does this mean that we have poor work ethic? Of course not. It means that we have inherited an economy that isn’t ready to receive us. This might account for why we don’t tie our identity as a generation to our work. Without the work there to do, the ethic that’s attached to it probably doesn’t pop up as an immediately distinctive value.

3. We respect our elders. The Pew report says so repeatedly. It explicitly lays out our respect for our parents and states that Millennials have a “gentler” generation gap than others. Perhaps, then, we view our comparative work ethic accordingly. I know very few young people who, with a straight face, would have the hubris to say that they have greater work ethic than their parents. Despite what society says, trust me: we aren’t nearly entitled enough to characterize our own work as better or more principled than the grandparents who laid the foundation for who we are and how we live. Perhaps this ranking wasn’t so much an indictment of our own values but instead, a respectful affirmation of theirs.

4. We drank the Kool-Aid. Maybe — just maybe — even Millennials have bought into the stereotype that we don’t work as hard, despite the hours we spend on the job, however traditional or unconventional that job may be. Despite the hours of studying, classes, shifts, volunteering, and blogging, despite the number of 45-year-old bosses that shove their work and responsibilities off on us and take the credit and the salary…Perhaps in the face of all of the realities telling us that at a minimum we work just as hard — if not harder and more efficiently and with more heart 墔 than other generations, we have begun to believe the ascendant cultural narrative about ourselves.

Of all of these hypotheses the last is certainly the most dangerous. It would mean that we too read reports like this out of context and with little regard for the evidence of our work ethic that surrounds us. That lack of esteem for our own values would be the most unfortunately unique generational trait of all.

Erica Williams is a Washington, D.C.-based activist who has spent years managing, working with, and on behalf of Millennials around the country to advance their interests and engagement in civic life. She currently serves as the Deputy Director of Progress 2050, a project of the Center for American Progress that develops new policy ideas for an increasingly diverse America.

Erica Williams is the CEO of Foolish Life Ventures. Foolish Life works with high impact individuals, organizations and brands to advance social causes through original content and campaign design. Recently named a World Economic Forum Global Shaper she can be found on Twitter @ericawilliamsdc.